Arla steps up security in Saudi Arabia after Danish employee is shot

The Danish dairy giant Arla has stepped up its security in Saudi Arabia after one of its Danish employees was shot and wounded by unknown assailants on the street in the capital of Riyadh on Saturday.

The Dane – who is recovering from a gunshot wound to the shoulder at a Saudi hospital and is in a stable condition – works for Arla's subsidiary Danya Foods, which has launched a series of security procedures in the country.

”We have a number of posted employees from Denmark and the rest of Europe,” Theis Brøgger, Arla's head of communication, told DR Nyheder.

”Our focus right now is on our colleague's improvement and all our other employees in Riyadh. We deem this situation as being very serious.”

Investigations persist Brøgger said the case was being investigated by the Saudi authorities, although it was too early to say who had committed the crime and why.

Just a month ago, an American citizen was shot and killed in the Saudi capital, while another was wounded. Saudi police have stated that the case information so far indicated the shootings were not related to extremist groups.

The Middle Eastern market remains a massive asset for Arla, despite the company struggling to reach the pre-Mohammed Crisis figures in 2005, when the company's turnover was three billion kroner in the region.